1. Technical Field
The presently disclosed subject matter relates to vehicle lighting assemblies and light guiding lenses for use in the vehicle lighting assembly, and in particular, to a vehicle lighting assembly which uses a light guiding lens without a dedicated light source.
2. Related Art
Several conventional vehicle lighting assemblies using a light guiding lens have been known. One example thereof is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2006-313681.
The vehicle lighting assembly disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2006-313681 includes a light guiding lens having a plurality of reflecting surfaces and a light source disposed below the light guiding lens. According to this configuration, light rays emitted from the light source can enter the light guiding lens, and are reflected by the plurality of reflecting surfaces to be radiated in respective predetermined direction for illumination.
This type of vehicle lighting assembly, however, must include a dedicated light source for this light guiding lens. Accordingly, a space for accommodating such a dedicated light source must be secured within a vehicle lighting assembly without obstructing a light path for light rays emitted from a main light source. The requirement of such a dedicated light source can increase the entire cost for components as well as manufacturing cost of the vehicle lighting assembly.